Lost in Translation - Breakdown

Hmm.
This was an interesting challenge put forth, that just highlighted what I've been starting to understand even more clearly. I've been looking at lots of movies and stories that were close to the type of story I had in my head - strong actions, hint of horror and fear, dramatic speeches and so on. But does this structure I've been talking about apply to other type of stories.

I really didn't know. My initial guess was yes, because the "3/4 act structure" is all about putting forward a story in a way that reinforces the main points its trying to tell. So, it theoretically should apply equally to romance or comedy or whatever.

So, here was the challenge. Lost in Translation. Not intimidating at all, no. <sigh>. This is a real favorite of mine, and I've watched it dozens of times. I love the feelings it evokes, especially as a person who has lived in a number of different countries where I didn't speak the native language, and have traveled to places where I couldn't even read street signs! So yes, trying to peek under the hood and tear this apart was a slightly frightening proposition.

Before we sat down to watch this film, I looked up a number of reviews, and my heart skipped another beat. They were full of terms like 'fragile', 'anti-hollywood' 'goes out of its way to avoid clichés'. I really thought that this would be very hard to analyse.

The first question is, of course, what the heck is this movie about? What is the core conflict that drives this movie. D and I sat and watched this movie all the way through, each of us trying to read the meaning behind the actions of the characters and cinematography. It was a weird feeling doing free-association while watching a movie, especially when we were both mentioning people and places that were very personal to both of us.

Then it hit us, pretty much at the end of the film, this is a film about a very specific emotion - the longing to be understood. - I'm sure there is a lovely word in gaelic or german or some foreign language that sums this up nicely, but it is a real emotion that I know a lot of people feel. The feeling that you cant communicate because no one understands the meaning behind your words, the search for someone, anyone, who can really understand who you are. Its not the same as being loved, but there is that same feeling of connection. So the internal conflict is this search for being understood, and the external conflict is, to me, the transience of the meeting, the ticking clock which tears them apart.

Knowing the core theme of the story, the theory dictates that there should be 3 major points at 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the way through. For a movie of 100 minutes, I straight away clicked on some different points on the playback bad :)

1st Plot point - end of act 1 at about 25 minutes.

Here we expected something related to connection. Our two main characters should somehow make a connection that will drive the rest of the film, we should get a feeling for what is really at stake in the whole film. So, what do we see at the 25 minute mark? We are in the last moments of that cheesy lounge singer scene!
Voila - This is the scene where Bob and Charlotte first really meet. The make a connection over the shared feeling of "how cheesy is this singer" by just looking at each other through a crowded bar, when everyone else around them seems so disconnected and they feel lonely. Charlotte chooses to send over the drink, and we see the touching scene of Bob in the elevator, checking out his own smile.
This obviously sets up the question: will they be able to find happiness together? Unlike a romance or a comedy, coppola didn't try to make this scene cute, or special. It was just a momentary glimpse of having someone else understand, and then the pair go their separate ways, still not having shared a single word. But this changed the movie, from showing two lonely people in a foreign country, into one where these two people are trying to see how can they connect with each other.

Midpoint - middle of act two at about 50 minutes.

OK, so the first plot point was pretty much spot on, how does the midpoint go? I am expecting something game-changing - Its the karaoke scene with the songs by Bob and Charlotte full of very strong subtext!
Bingo - real game changer here. Here our two characters move away from talking and sharing anecdotes to actually talking about their relationship - through the lyrics of songs and lots of meaningful looks. Go back about 30 seconds to see Charlotte singing "I'm gonna make you see" by the Pretenders. Now if this isn't full of meaning, I don't know what is :) "I'm going to make you notice me,.. no one here like me... I'm special, I gotta have some of your attention". Then the response of Bob: "More than this, there is nothing" (More than this by Roxy Music) but sung with great regret. All ending with the iconic scene of Charlott and Bob in the corridor outside, tired, with Charlotte's head on his shoulder.
Here is question really changes, from "can anyone understand me?" to "Can something come from this?" Neither of the characters is directly confronting the question, but its clear that both of them, despite marriages and other commitments, are flirting with the fantasy of "can something happen here? Could this be the start of something?" Again, not necessarily romance, but now the cards are on the table, and some hard decisions need to be made soon.

2nd Plot point - end of act 2 at about 75 minutes.

So we've got our story setup. Two people, looking for a connection, someone to understand them. They have found each other, and now the question they are asking is "Can we somehow keep this situation going? Can this moment last? So I would expect something at this point that addresses this question in a big way. Well, the exact moment of 1:15:00 is Charlotte wondering through some old Japanese places, but the very next scene a minute later is the one I was hoping for. So still, pretty spot on!
Bob makes a decision! He purposely skips out on his work (the 2 million dollar spot he's being paid for) and runs away, calling the japanese show saying "I would love to change my plans and stay." All the while looking at a note he received from Charlotte. He decided he wants to stay and try to make something more of this nebulous relationship with Charlotte!


This was a great little exercise. It has convinced me, more than anything else so far, that a good story, a well told and moving story, will actually make use of this structure in a reasonably clear and straightforward manner. AS long as the story is crystal clear on the theme and conflict it is trying to portray, then this very old structure will really help.

Nano writing - Act 1

Well, would you look at that. I'm actually writing stuff!
 I put a little image in the corner of this blog now, to help me keep track of how I'm doing on this wild ride called NaNoWriMo. So far its been going spectacularly. Fingers crossed it will keep going like this and I'll be able to finish quickly.
That has been the strange thing so far, in that its not felt very much like my other writing attempts have felt - that feeling of sitting down at the computer and staring with horror at a blank page, and trying to wrestle some words out through my fingers. This time its felt almost the opposite, that i'm itching to sit down and when I actually start it just comes gushing out. LIke one of my friends said - looks like my inner muse has found me, and she's hyperactive!
I like this feeling. It is an intoxicating one. Sitting down and releasing a pressure valve and letting the words spray onto the page. ALthough I get the feeling that it might be something very much like a pressure valve, and once this initial release is over, its going to get a whole lot more difficult to get those words out.
But so far, not so bad :)
Perhaps its all the planning and thinking about it during last month that lets me write. The fact that its been sitting in my head and percolating for a month means that its just that little bit more ready to be written. Also, writing in small chunks that actually feel like they are complete and adding to the story helps a LOT.
In the eternal struggle of 'panster vs planner', I think i have firmly declared myself for the 'planner' side.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some more writing to do.

NaNo prep part2

Well, this is a first!
It is starting to feel that all this time investigating stories, breaking them down, and trying to work out what makes them tick may be starting to bear some fruit!

Thanks to a bit of prodding by my mate Svavar, I broke down Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator and Die Hard and started to get some insight into what sort of information if being presented in each of those parts I talked about earlier. Which let me start to think about what I want to put in my own little NaNo story :)

Lets try a little comparison.

Sequence 1

• Samurai: Meet drunk Algren, See how he's useless. Ask if he wants to kill some Japs.
• Aliens: Meet nightmare riddled Riply, see how she fired. Ask if she wants to kill some Aliens. 
• Raiders: Meet teacher/adventurer Indiana. Cant keep the Artifact. Ask if he wants to beat some Nazis.

We already have some basics - What is life like? What is kicking them into action?

Sequence 2 / End Act 1

• Samurai: Get a look at the modern army and the problem of Samurai rebels, Do stupid things and get caught.
• Aliens: Some high-tech equipment porn, talk about the Aliens a bit. Ignore the warnings are march into "secured" abandoned colony.
• Raiders: Travelling the world and exotic places. Bit of backstory, Bar destroyed by Nazi's and pair go on the hunt with a Medallion.

Again, lots of similarities. What is the predicament we're headed for? Lock our hero into a bad place.

Sequence 3

This starts to rely on "what is the problem our hero is facing". So there are differences based on what makes the problem worse, but still, see for yourself.

• Samurai: Algren suffering and lost. Learn more about the Samurai. "You're doing it wrong".
• Aliens: Ripley locked away. Learning about aliens, acid, last stand and multiple facehuggers!, Oh, colonists are all over there!
• Raiders: Following the clues and getting help (Salah). Run from Arabs and Marion gets captured.

Again, similarities. The hero is pretty passive at this time, mainly going along with the flow. But they learn more about the situation until coming up against a obstacle which raises the stakes of the story.

Sequence 4 / Midpoint

Now we're really headed into the guts of the story!

• Samurai: Algren falls in love with the Samurai culture. Suddenly Ninja! Algren fights and saves the Samurai leader! (no more kill samuraim but save them)
• Aliens: We finally get to see the alien hive and implanted colonists. Fight goes fubar. Ripley gets fedup and literally takes control, saves the last of the marines! (no more save colonists, but get the hell away!)
• Raiders: Nazi's have a medallion too! Racing to catch up as they have started digging. Sneak into Well of Souls and find the real location of the Ark!

We get some rising excitement and a more directly facing the problem. The Hero stops being a wuss and really gets into the actions. Also, the story takes a serious right hand turn and the problem is not quite what we though at the end of sequence two.

Sequence 5

This is a bit slower and on a tangent.

• Samurai: Back to city life. Some politics between the Japanese which puts a new spin on the problem faced by Algren, and now the Army is big and dangerous!
• Aliens: Mainly cooped up in the Colony. Get some interpersonal stuff with Newt (mommy issues) and Burke (money issues). All complicated by the realisation - where are all these eggs coming from.
• Raiders: Find Marion, but leave her tied up! Lot of time with Belloq and Marion, and the Gestapo guy. Ends with Indy's impatience getting the worst of him as they lead the Nazi's to the Ark, and he's trapped.

Again some similarities. We spend some time on the other characters than the main hero and see their issues. We also get some inclination that new plans may be necessary because of some new dangers on the horizon.

Sequence 6 / End act 2

This is, I think, the most fun section. 

• Samurai: The Samurai are loosing. Laws against them, captured etc. Algren comes and saves the say and escapes with the Samurai leader, but he looses his son in the fight.
• Aliens: Pure Action. Aliens attck, Bishop goes for the new 2nd dropship. Ripley nearly implanted, then the big runaway which ends with Newt getting captured!
• Raiders: Escape, Fight at the Airplane! Steal the truck, escape the baddies, GET THE ARK!

Yeah, this section is the fun one. Lots of action, lots of conflict, and it almost seems that our heros succeed. But there is one final problem to overcome - the big one!

Sequence 7

This and the following one are in a way hard to divide, because there is so much going on!

• Samurai: Algren and the Samurai return and prepare. The final fight is for the hearts and minds, so they are making a stand! Gearing up time. Algren finally "becomes one with the samurai".
• Aliens: Ripley refuses to leave. She is going to face the Aliens head on to save Newt. Heart pumping music as she gears up and enters the Hive. She's become warrior-woman incarnate!
• Raiders: Relaxing on the boat. Submarine attack, Indy alone goes to the rescue. 

Both are fairly short, but they point out in no uncertain terms what the final confrontation is all about. Our hero takes their final form! Really sets up the final as a simple choice - WIN or DIE!

Sequence 8

• Samurai: Awesome battle. Has a fake-out where you think the Samurai might actually win! But no, they (nearly) all die. Emperor has his little speech at the end saying the Samurai were right.
• Aliens: Well, The escape and face off against the Queen. Fake-out that no, you didn't escape completely, the Queen is up here with you! AT the end you get them all cleaned up and going to sleep, they can now dream as the Nightmare is dead!
• Raiders: Chases after Belloq, fake-out capture! Indy knows how to survive and the Nazi's die to the Ark. Marion and Indy happy at the end with the Ark "safely" out of reach of the Nazi's.

Yep, the big boss fight with a fake out in the middle where they try to trick you!. With a nice wrap up at the end.

So, After all this pulling stuff apart, I finally proved to myself that this structure actually holds, and set about putting my own story layered over this framework. Today I finally got something that resembles an interesting story! Now I have the rest of the week to fiddle with my scenes before I have to start putting pen to paper! (Or fingers to keyboard).

Samurai Breakdown

So, Alexandra put up some more challenges to look at the movies we listed and break them down. She talks about the "3 act" and "8 sequences" that are most movies are made up of. So I spent a quite enjoyable (but tiring) few days watching lots of movies. North by Northwest, Aliens, Centurion, The Last Samurai, Wreck it Ralph, and you know what - she's right.

I spent a lot of time going through these movies, working out what the theme, plot, characters were. Watching for the sequence and act breaks, and the big setpieces. My wife even got to the point where she told me "If I wanted the director's commentary, I'd watch the special features...". I got a little obsessive I think :/

So which movies do I think are most similar to my story?
What's my story? Good question. But lets start with the one story that sings to me the most: The Last Samurai

The tagline I wrote for it was: "A veteran of the US civil war is hired to destroy the last samurai, but after he comes to embrace their culture he still needs to stop the modernized army that now seeks his death as well". But now I think that might be a little off.

Anyway Lets look at the "8 sequences" that so many people talk about…

Sequence 1: 

Status Quo and Kickoff Setpiece.

Here we see meet Captain Algren - the "All American Hero", who is drunk, depressed, and deeply cynical. 

The first setpiece is easy to spot - the Dinner/Job Offer. Algren is playing the rude, money-grubbing lout, and the Japanese are disgusted by it, but we learn what the movie is thematically about: The Emperor wants to modernize Japan, but is having trouble with rebels. "Civilization vs Savages".

Sequence 2/Act 1: 

No going back.

Algren in Japan, learning about the Samurai and Katsumoto, and training the Imperial Army to use guns. The clarifies the core theme - it’s the Modern Capitalists (civilization) vs the Honorable Traditionalists (savages)

This setpiece is pretty great. Terrifying war cries and horns echoing through the misty forest, the unready Imperial army breaking apart. Algren going hand to hand with the Samurai, and getting captured by Katsumoto. The kicker is the beheading/suicide of the Imperial General who refused to fight against Katsumoto as it was "dishonorable".

Sequence 3: 

Get over it.

Algren is a "civilized" man, and he needs to lose his habits before he can come to appreciate the Japanese ways. Alcohol withdrawal, rudeness, stubborn attitude.

The setpiece here is great, where he literally has to have the stubbornness beaten out of him by Ujio, a samurai who is offended at the outsider holding even a practice sword. We have the townsfolk, children and the "love interest" all watching on. He's left beaten senseless, lying in the mud, being rained on, and everyone turns away.

Sequence 4/Midpoint: 

Becoming one of them.

From his all time low, the only way is up, and now Algren is open to learn, and learn he does. We are given a couple of montages, and some great scenes of Algren learning to be Japanese, but they are unsure of him and treat him "like a stray dog".

But this is another obvious setpiece, when Katsumoto is attacked by ninja. Algren finally starts to show his true colors, and leaps to the defense of his caretakers, and even risks his life to save Katsumoto. The expressions are priceless as everyone involved realizes, Algren has changed sides.

Sequence 5: 

Up the stakes!

Katsumoto heads to Tokyo to meet with the Emperor, and Algren is brought along and released. But we see how much he really has changed - and how dangerous the Imperial army has become.

The setpiece is a lovely meeting with Omura (the Capitalist Bad Guy) who has a lovely meeting with Algren, offering to take him back on as the new military general of the Imperial Army. There is a second conversation going on, implied by their choice of words - Is Algren still one of them, or has he been seduced by Katsumoto? The final line of Omura to his sidekick clinches it "If he goes near Katsumoto, kill him!"

Sequence 6/Act 2: 

Commit.

There is lots of very obvious losses for the Samurai here. Laws passed against them, harassment, and Katsumot imprisoned. The Capitalists have won, and they just need to round up and kill the stragglers.

The setpiece is spectacular here, 3 scenes which build up the tension where Algren goes to rescue Katsumoto. The climax is 4 minutes of Samurai vs Soldiers where Algren leads the escape out of Tokyo, but Katsumoto's son needs to sacrifice himself to give time for the others to escape.

Sequence 7: 

More Tension!!

Here the Samurai retreat back to the town, and make preparations for battle. "Gotta have a montage", smiths making swords, soldiers arming up, etc. There is an undertone of sadness though with lots of "final farewell" images thrown in.

The setpiece here was a bit of a hard one to pick, as there are two really moving scenes one after another, but it’s the first one that really strikes me. We get to see a very symbolic act - the wife of the man he killed all the way back when he was captured, the woman who has cared for him and seen him change from the disgusting foreigner into a person worthy of respect - she brings Algren into the room where the red armor is standing - and tells him "If you wear it, you will honor us". This is shot in a very intimate way where the woman dresses Algren in layers of protection - almost composed like a sex scene.

Sequence 8/Act 3: 

Resolution.

Heck, this whole part is just one long battle scene (with a coda with the Emperor at the end). The battle is great, with a too and fro, and rising tension which seems to climax in the Samurai driving back the regiments and being left, victorious, over a field of dead bodies, but Algren points out - they will just bring up two more regiments. We can't win again."

Which leads to the quite moving setpiece. Katsumoto leads the surviving samurai in a suicidal charge against the Imperial Army and their howitzers and machine guns. Of course, the Samurai are cut down, but even though Katsumoto "looses" and commits seppuku on the field amidst his dead companions, he "wins" the battle for the soul of Japan, as the Imperial soldiers stop firing and everyone (except Omura) kneels down before Katsumoto. 

Premise Priority!

Yesterday Alexandra continued her series on preparation for NaNoWriMo and sent out the challenge to write the "logling" for the top 10 stories I posted the other day. I thought this would be a breeze! Just do a back cover blurb, slap down a few words that tell a story and then I can go and relax, and play some computer games or watch a movie.

But no, its not that simple. Not at all!

While my wife and I were sitting on the couch catching up with Korra before the final season starts, I had my nose in my notebook, trying (and failing) to write these elusive loglines. My head was lost in those fantasy worlds, trying to distill the stories into a single sentence. Every now and again I was nudged so I would look up for a particularly good scene, but eventually I had to give up when I realized that the TV was off, and I was sitting on the couch in the dark… and it was the next day already. Sigh.

So a good logline needs to cover a bunch of bases to tell you "what the story is about".

• Who is the protagonist?
• Who is the antagonist
• What is the setting?
• What is the conflict?
• What are the stakes?

Getting all this into a single sentence is damn hard! I was writing about a paragraph, or even a few sentences at the least. It’s a really great creative exercise to try and cut out as much unneeded fluff as you can., and get the words that have the best meaning for the story. I'm not sure I nailed it, in fact I'm pretty sure that all of these can be improved upon (Hjalti where are you when I need you!)

So how did I do? This is the same list that I did a few days ago, in the same order. But can you tell what each story is? Do you want to put down whatever it is you are doing and go read/watch these right now?

• The Bad Guy in an old computer game goes on a quest to get the good guy medal, but can he become a real good guy before the relentless enemy he accidently unleashed destroys the whole arcade?

• A Bitter old man threatened with the loss of his house and memorabilia flies away with it all thanks to thousands of balloons to fulfill his lifelong dream in the wilds of south america. But he needs to reconnect with the world when his childhood hero turns out to be a paranoid evil man.

• A small American town during the cold war is frightened when a damaged giant metal machine drops from the sky. It needs to prove it is not a threat before the ruthless US military catches and destroys it.

• A veteran of the US civil war is hired to destroy the last samurai, but after he comes to embrace their culture he still needs to stop the modernized army that now seeks his death as well.

• In the mysterious island-city of Camorr, an infamous young thief is caught up in a bloody underworld coup that threatens to destroy everyone he holds dear, and he has to outsmart the ambitious and deadly enemy at its own game.

• In a nation that keeps order through a televised fight to the death between children, a hardened young girl takes the place of her younger sister and needs to keep her humanity while surviving the other brutal contenders.

• The bitter last Gunslinger must travel across a demon-infested desert, and confront its murderous inhabitants to catch the enigmatic magician who holds the key to the center of everything - The Dark Tower

• A comfort-loving hobbit needs to find his own courage to survive an unexpected adventure though wilds and forests, and help a band of dwarves to reclaim their homeland from a dragon.

• In fascist civil war spain, an imaginative young girl must complete a trio of life-threatening tasks to reclaim her mythical kingdom and escape a sadistic army captain - her step-father.

• Facing the hazardous depths of the alien zones to feed the black market in alien artifacts is a job only the desperate would consider, and to provide for his family, one such man braves its dangers and the government institute that seeks to police it.

Yeah, some of these are horribly constructed, but I think the (mostly) give an idea of what you are getting into.

NaNoWriMo prep time!

So its that time of the year again, when the skies darken and the nights become too bloody cold :)

November and the NaNoWriMo is coming around once again. I don’t remember how many times I've attempted this, and how many times the result that came out the other side was either incomprehensible, or just "meh". So this time, prompted by the lovely Alex, I am going to do a little bit of pre-planning! Perhaps the result might be a tad better?

So, what am I going to devote many hours of November to write this year? I honestly have no idea - which is what gets me in trouble each year as I fumble around and waste time trying to find out what I want to write. Alexandra is being so generous as to write a series of "NaNo prep" posts. In her first one she recommends making a list of 10 favorite movies and books, and then analyzing what that list says about "what appeals to me".

Joy, my favorite pastime: making lists and analyzing patterns! (this was a little too much fun, and I had to restrain myself from watching some movies right now!) I was in the mood for something that really got a hold of me, so while these may not be all time favorites, they are all damn close.

Movies

• Wreck it Ralph
• Up
• Iron Giant
• Last Samurai
• Pan's Labyrinth

Novels

• The Lies of Locke Lamora
• The Hunger Games
• The Gunslinger
• The Hobbit
• Roadside Picnic

Huh…
It seems the movies are more "tear jerkers" for me, while the novels are more action-y. But lets take a closer look before jumping to conclusions!

Wreck it Ralph

"…you are bad guy, but this does not mean you are bad guy."

I really love this movie. Its got hilarious at times, and really pulls out the tears at others. I really empathize with Ralph at many times. Here is this guy who is the "designated bad guy". The thing he does well is break stuff, and everyone only thinks of him as the bad guy, and so they hate him. But he doesn't want to be the bad guy, but the good guy.
The core of the story, for me, is the character interactions. A lot of the story is about how Ralph rather selfishly goes after his own goals which results in a lot of real danger for a lot of people around him. Its only when Ralph realizes what he's done and tries to help others that things start to get better. He's even willing to die for what he comes to believe is the right thing.

Up!

"Adventure is out there!"

I must have seen this about a dozen times. I have to say that the opening montage gets me teary every single damn time. I mean really pixar - a tragic story of true love, heartache, happiness and loss all without a word.
Another character I strongly identify with: Carl. Everyone wants his to just disappear or die already! He just wants to remember his wife, and keep his promise to her memory. He thinks that he'll be happy if he only just does this one last thing…
Again a story where the character relationships are vital. Carl sees everything in life as an obstacle to be endured or bypassed, and its only when he stops trying to "endure" the people around him and actually opens himself up to taking  part in their lives that he realizes what being happy really is. He gives up everything that he thought defined him - his memorabilia of his wife - to actually get out and find out that life is the true adventure.

Iron Giant

"I am not a gun."

Well, the whole setting of the story sets this up. America during the "Red Scare" years - where everything not "american" is a communist plot! While the all the various characters (Hogarth, Kent Mansley specialagent, Dean) are all pretty great, they are honestly just fleshed out Stereotypes/Mouthpieces for different points of view - but I don’t care because the whole thing is just so great :) This movie really is all about the Iron Giant finding himself.
Yet another story of a misunderstood character. The Government is after the Iron Giant, and he's basically an giant alien weapon platform with a few neurons strapped on for guidance. But he wants to be so much more! He's not the evil Roboto, he's Superman! At least in his heart. It takes the ultimate sacrifice on his behalf to finally convince the world that he's not the "Bad Guy". I feel the happy ending was tacked on because it’s a kids cartoon, but it still works :)

The Last Samurai

"I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor.."

Hehe! Ken Wantanabe is just superb as Katsumoto, the cited "Last Samurai". The one who is holding true to tradition, Honour and Loyalty in the face of blatant capitalism and self-aggrandizement. Sure, Tom Cruise as the drunk, bitter ex-colonel down on his luck is the point of view character, but its Lord Katsumoto who is the driver of the conflict in the movie. He is the one who looks upon the "westernization" of Japan as destructive and so refuses to let things go on their current cause.
As they saying goes "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Katsumoto tries to act, but the only act that ultimately remains for him is his own death - but that death, and the symbolic stand of the samurai,  is enough to act as a catalyst for the Emperor of Japan to change his ways.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

"You can't help being young, but it's past time that you stopped being stupid."

Oh boy oh boy! This is a real tale of adventure. Criminal plots gone astray, clever puzzles and loyal friends. But more than that, it’s the story of a very unlikely hero. Lying, conniving, manipulative con-artists, who end up saving the whole city.  It not quite a traditional "medieval fantasy", but is more of a fantasy renaissance Venice.
This story plays with the idea of "family". Locke's little band of Gentlemen Bastards is a family that looks after its own. The Barsavi criminal family manipulate and corrupt for the "cause" of family. While the Bondsmagi ruthlessly destroy any mage who doesn't become one of their "family", and rain horrors on all who hurt them.
But I really like how troubles follow Locke, so long as he tries to get his own way. Every problem that they get embroiled in is the direct result of Locke thinking too much of himself or acting for his own benefit. Only when he acts altruistically (well, mostly anyway) is when things seem to go right.

The Hunger Games

"May the odds be ever in your favor!"

What can I say. They even made a pretty darned good movie out of this one. This is another of my "unwitting hero" favorites. Katniss isn't trying to be a hero, or symbol. She is just trying to save her sister and get out alive. But it's because of her inherent character, and unwillingness to become truly despicable (as the games director wants) that saves both her and her fellow delegate from home - and make her a symbol for freedom from oppression to the other districts.
Oh, and yes there is a scene where she attempts suicide to make her point that the authorities are wrong… That is a definite repeating theme in all of these stories!

The Gunslinger

"First comes smiles, then lies. Last is gunfire"

I think the main character in this story, Roland, is the most cynical one so far. But this is a great story about obsession, and the destruction left in its wake. I think this one is actually a pretty sad book (good one, just leaves me emotionally drained) which is rather different to all the above. Roland is definitely not a hero, but he is a badass. While many of the above characters are willing to sacrifice themselves or things close to them to do what is right, Roland is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING else to achieve his quest - and while he know that it makes him a bad man and hates himself for it, he cannot give up on his quest. Heck, he's willing to slaughter an entire town just to carry on the chase for the Man in Black.
The whole series is pretty epic, but I think that this first book, in its simple focus and clarity is the best of them all.
Maybe Roland has made a sacrifice - he's sacrificed everything else in his life, all connections, friends, family, even love for the sake of his quest, and I think its starting to dawn on him in the later parts of this book that it wasn't a good trade.

The Hobbit

"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”

Yep, this one holds a special place in my heart. This was my first "grown up" book that I read. The first one that didn't have lots of pictures and happy messages in it. This was a poor hobbit dragged around the countryside and thrust into danger after danger. I loved that even though the story was filled with strong people with swords and armor and anger issues, it is the clever guy, the little hobbit who just enjoys his tea, who manages to outsmart and put right so many things in this story.
A lot of now familiar themes of standing by your family and friends, selfish greed vs honest care, and all that good stuff :) Once more the unlikely hero as well.

Oof - now come a couple of stories that are a bit out of left field, but somehow I felt from the start that they belonged here.

Pan's Labyrinth

"But captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do"

This is a heartbreaking story. Also one of the first real tragedies in the list. This is a "rocks fall, everyone dies", except for the one guy who really and truly deserves to die - Captain Vidal (that evil fucker!)  This is a strange, dreamlike movie set in post-civil war spain - a story of rebels and a bastard of a fascist Captain - and his innocent daughter who might be a fairy princess. Its so heartbreaking because everything just keeps getting worse all the time. There are a few moments scattered around where you thing "finally, they will win now", only for everything to get fucked up and go straight back to hell, only with some added horrors.
I love how the whole fairytale experiences of Ophelia could be real, or could be her imagination - but in either case they have a strong influence on the progression of the story. What I really love in this whole movie is that the underdogs (Ophelia, the rebels) continue their acts of rebellion even though they realize that there is no possibility of a good outcome.
(yep, I give in, I need to go watch this again now)

Roadside Picnic

Another tragedy. This is a very bleak, very russian novel written by the Strugatsky brothers. This is quite unlike anything I'd ever read before. Here was a world that had been visited by aliens, but they were so far beyond humanity that we can't really make heads or tails of the stuff they inadvertently left behind.
The main character is "Red", one of the brave (foolish?) stalkers - people who make a living going into the contaminated areas and bringing out the strange alien artifacts. But even though there is this whole science fiction overlay, this story is really about Red trying to survive in a world hostile to his existence. He braves the reality-bending visitation zones, he struggles and tricks the constricting bureaucracy that runs the research institute, keeping his mutated daughter well cared for (even though she might be an alien…)
But in the end this is a tragedy, as even though Red never gives up and keeps fighting, there is no way to survive the greed and corruption of the world…

Review: Microscope RPG

...and now for something completely different!

Over the last year and a bit, I've joined a bunch of my mates for a weekly run of the roleplaying game "Exalted". It has been an epic tale of tragic mistakes, sacrifices, and hard won victories. But we finally reached a spot in the tale that prompted a break, and even though we felt invested in the characters, we decided that it was time for something different.

But that is the real question - how can we continue the magic? Well, we identified the things that allowed us to keep the game's story going for so long, and took a look at what other genres they would work in. Eventually coming to the conclusion that if we wanted something different, then lets go as far from Epic magical heroes in medieval land as we could… A science fiction story of people struggling to make a living. So we were looking at the "BSG" and "Firefly" end of the spectrum now. But here is another problem for a bunch of gaming geeks - not all of us have the same depth of knowledge about these stories, and creating our own might get problematic if we keep bumping our heads against 'canon'. So time to roll our own!

So enters the game of Microscope - a fractal game of epic histories. This seems tailor made to create our own setting. But to be honest I approached this with some measure of trepidation. While reading the rules spiked my interest, there seemed to be way to much scope for crazy shenanigans to make everything go off the rails and ruin the fun of everyone. And even worse, it was scaled for 2-4 players, and we would have 6-10 (depending on who showed up on the day).

Thankfully, Ben Robbins (author) has setup a great little Microscope community on G+ which was able to answer a whole lot of my questions, and give some suggestions for easing into a session for so many people. The biggest worry that others raised about my group was that the gameplay would slow to a glacial pace with so many interacting. So instead of the basic rules of "Scenes", we used the optional rules for "Dictated Scenes" and allowing the rules for "Push". Overall I think this kept play to a decent speed while keeping everyone interested!

The basics of the game are simple. We co-operatively setup some ground rules on what story's genre rules are, define a start and end point, and then start taking turns making history. Each round a player defines the focus - what is the common thread of all the history in that round. Then every player can add a Period, Event, or Scene. As long as the new thing doesn't contradict established fact, and fits the defined genre, no other player can say no. And these added things can happen at any spot on the timeline.

A bit scary, eh? No one has real creative control! But it worked amazingly well!

I think that one of the key reasons this worked so well was the initial co-operative fiddly bits. And they were fiddly! It took a long time for everyone to get their heads around what they were doing here, as it amounts to defining the "series bible" and theme/genre of the whole game. First up we had to define the "Big Picture". We were all remembering the wonderful movie from last week "Guardians of the Galaxy" and had been talking about Firefly, Farscape, Babylon 5, and other similar sci-fi series. We wanted the feel of a struggling crew flying around space. A sense of exploration and hidden dangers. To have this as an end point we needed something with a suitable scale. The initial scene from Firefly - the ships streaming away from "the earth that was" - inspired a lot of us, which led to us defining our big picture as:

Mankind flees from a dying earth to end up scattered among the stars.

We liked it. Then the game tells us to define our "palette", the elements that we want included or banned from our history. This took a little explaining, as it didn't mean those things were in the game, but was just a list of things that were different from expectation. This perhaps was the biggest time sink as we went around and each person proposed an addition to the list. Each addition needed to be discussed, weighed up, and agreed upon. With seven players sitting around the table this meant a lot of discussions. But while this is a time consuming endeavor that can be easily seen as "not playing the game", I noticed that as we moved further along there was less discussion as each addition seemed to make more and more sense. This list was only brought up a few times to reign in later Events and Scenes, but every time it proved its worth.

The final bit of setup was to define the start and end periods of the game. Our starting period was easy - The Dying Earth, a dark time for humanity. The end period was nearly as easy to come up with as we wanted the travelling widespread feeling common to many science fiction epics - Humanity scattered among the stars. These points serve the important task of focusing our imagination on what lies between. We were not thinking about how, exactly, the earth came to be dying, only that it was and that humanity had to leave. Similarly we were not too concerned about the eventual outcome, but were happy to know that humanity had ended up scattered among the stars.

Then the real magic began to take shape. The game is split into rounds. Each round a player picks a focus, creates a nested pair of things (Period, Event or Scene), then all the other players take turns adding one thing to the timeline, linked by the focus. Sounds pretty simple, and it is. There are only a few things to remember - Don’t contradict anything already established; Use only things allowed by the palette; Stick to the focus; No co-operation!

It’s the last one that pushes this game into awesome territory! When it isn't your turn to add, you can only ask questions or clarifications. You are unable to change what another player put into the timeline if it is valid. Since you cannot contradict anything that comes before or after, there is a strong push to keep your good ideas close to your chest before making the sudden reveal on your turn. It was hilarious to see the expressions on people's faces as they listened to an addition, and suddenly thought of a cool twist or addition that they would use on their own turn. So many times someone would exclaim "oh wow, we should now…" and then bite their tongue. As the turns built up and the story twisted and turned everyone got more and more excited and colorful in their descriptions.

On the Sunday we played, we were only stopped because we had forgotten a charger for the laptop being used to skype in our distant players. But everyone was so charged up that we set another session for the very next day after work.

Final Thoughts

This is less of a game, and more of a co-operative storytelling game. But because you can jump around to any point in the timeline, at any moment, makes the reasons 'why' change from moment to moment. No one person can drive the story in any particular way, but everyone is able to create or destroy story elements that change the course of the story.

This is a great way to spend some afternoons with friends who share a love of stories. You will come up with a tale to rival any movie or novel or tv show, and you will want to come back to it again and again.

Best $10 I've spent for a long time :)

Learning

How do people learn?

I started digging into this with the comment on "Leonardo had it easy", and it made for some interesting reading and thinking. Wow, this is a big one! There are so many theories of learning, and implications about learning that its nearly overwhelming! 

So the basics - What do we mean by learning? Basically its "to aquire (knowlege, habit, skill etc) by experience, exposure, instruction, or the like.

Pretty open ended, but it addresses the fact that we humans are pretty much learning machines. Everything we experience basically changes us. Quite often though the change is either not very great, or somewhat unexpected direction! The thing that really interests me though, it how do people generally perceive how the act of learning works. What is the conceptual model they use?

Yay, another bucket of worms that just keeps on going. But the general consensus is that there is a particular learning curve, or more precisely an S curve. The initial change (in behaviour or knowledge) is hard, followed by a period of reinforcement which tapers off over time. Each unit of "effort" then, gives a different result depending on how much you know. The initial investment is hard, then it gets easier to improve, until it becomes expensive to get any significant improvement.

Now after this, things get very confusing and there are lots of different opinions and experiences. But the thing that struck me was the pretty consistent bias towards "education" or instruction. ie how one person transfer's or imparts stuff to another. The idea of an autodidact (ie, someone who learns without formal instruction) has weird implications in a lot of theories, and is often quietly left unmentioned.

This is also a prevalent attitude amongst most people I know or have heard about. There is a HUGE amount of emphasis on "certification" and "courses". You can only be recognized as knowing something if you have done the right courses or have the appropriate certification. Graduations, Degrees etc. The biggest horrors: home- or un-schooling. Heck, the process of getting this formal certification has become a massive industry, and even when the certification is seen as sub-par or unconnected to the real work, its often seen as still necessary.

Strange. There are a whole series of logical fallacies based around that one :)

But this has a big impact on another of my favorite areas: games and stories. There is a strong expectation that if a character in a game of story does something new, it was prefaced by either some effort to pick up the new thing, or a explanation of how it was taught to them. There is even a regularly used trope of a "training montage"! Having a character repeatedly show new competences without some effort or training is often viewed as unrealistic or a cop out.

I think i'll take a closer look at learning in games/stories in a bit.

Lets geek out!

I love to geek out about stuff, and wish I could find more people to geek out with :)

What do I mean?

Geek (noun)

someone who is interested in a subject (usually intellectual or complex) for its own sake

Geek out (verb)

to be overexcited about a specialized subject or activity, or to talk about it with excessive enthusiasm

I could geek out about sci-fi for hours.

Well

- interested in a subject. YES! Many of them

- usually intellectual or complex. Well, if something is too simple and there isn't much to get curious, then it pretty much isn't interesting by definition?

- for its own sake. I tend not respond to extrinsic motivation so well, and to be honest I don’t think I have the required skill needed to turn my many interests into a paying gig. (and no matter what anyone might promise, it takes a butt-load of time and effort to develop skill in pretty much anything.)

Yep, I'm a self-identified geek :)

When I encounter something new, I tend to behave like a little kid and ask those annoying questions - "Why? How?".

Hey, that movie was awesome! Why do I think so? How did they make it so appealing?

Hey, this food is delicious! Why does it taste so good? How did the chef make it?

Hey, that person is so obnoxious! Why do they think those things? How did they get that way?

Etc.

That pretty much explains my general thought patterns. When I encounter something that grabs my attention (positive or negative), I will get very curious about it and try to learn more about it - ask questions, look up information, or just talk to people about it. If those answers raise more questions, then down the rabbit hole I go :)

So I quite often want to dig into things, and then go talk about them. This talkingis often not always at appropriate times, or totally appreciated. How many times have you experienced this - You have something that is just burning to be told so you run over to someone and want to tell them. Often they are busy doing something else, or give you a look that just says "why are you talking about this?" Its only very rarely that the person you talk to has the same interest, and the time to talk to you right then! I used to encounter this a lot while at university and the years closely following. I would be be chatting away, beer in hand, and overhear someone express their like for something I knew about - and I shortly I would find people trying to change the topic, or staring at me while I wondered - "but there is so much more to talk about!"

I quickly learnt to hide my enthusiasm over topics so I could be more "socially acceptable", but the urge still runs deep. When I encounter something interesting  I want to analyze it, to know why it is interesting, how does it work, etc. I want to try to know everything I can, and perhaps experiment a little. Most of the time this has had little to no real economic advantage and just makes me spend a few days obsessed with something, but in a few cases it has overlapped with my work, which has been a nice experience.

My biggest hero is someone who I think was the ultimate geek - Leonardo da Vinci. He was an autodidact: a person who was mostly self-taught in the things he knew, mostly because there was no formal education available. So he became the ultimate Renaissance Man, knowledgeable and interested in a wide variety of topics. He is still looked upon as a genius today, but I fear the more modern obsession with trying to put people in boxes, and try to become specialized in only one particular field of knowledge.

Since I don’t want to bore to tears the people close to me, I decided to (finally) put up a blog where I can geek out without fear, and also feed my need to share what I learn. Most of the time I will talk about the thing that entertains me most, Stories. Both how they are told (movies, TV, books) and how you can tell them (roleplaying). I'll possibly venture into my other obsessions with food, history, communications, and cultures :)

Let's see how this goes.